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Sony PlayStation VR launches in October with $399 price tag

Sony has announced that it will launch its PlayStation VR headset in October this year, bringing some additional competition to the growing virtual reality market. After this year’s announcements from Oculus and Vive, consumers are probably wondering about the price, so let’s start there.

PlayStation VR comes with just a $399 price tag, making is a fair bit cheaper than the $600 Oculus, $800 Vive, and even the $100 Gear VR once you factor in the cost of a compatible Samsung smartphone. $400 will nab you the required HDMI cable, a USB cable, a pair of stereo headphones with a set of earpieces, an add-on processor box, AC power cord and power brick, and the VR headset, of course.

However, PlayStation VR’s boxed bundle doesn’t quite include everything that you will need to get started. The system also requires a $60 PlayStation Camera for the headset to work and many titles will also require the Move controllers at another $50 apiece. The total price quickly creeps up towards Oculus territory then, but perhaps Sony will announce a complete bundle with a slight discount nearer release.

Along with the release date and price announcement, Sony also confirmed the headset’s hardware specifications. PlayStation VR comes with a 5.7-inch OLED display packing a 1920×1080 pixel resolution. This works out to 960×1080 per eye and is a slightly lower resolution than the 2160 x 1200 panels offered by Oculus and Vive, and the QHD display of Samsung’s handsets. The headset will also be running at a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, offers a 100-degree field of view, and provides with less than 18ms latency.

Sony promises a catalogue of 50 games to be released between the October launch and the end of 2016, so there will be plenty to play later this year. Sony has also been hyping up some of its non-gaming related VR software, including a “Cinematic Mode” to play regular games and to watch videos, “Share Play” streaming, and Live from PlayStation broadcasts.

Have you decided which virtual reality headset you’ll be purchasing, if any?

Lead Technical Writer at Android Authority, covering the latest trends in consumer electronics and hardware. In his spare moments, you'll probably find him tinkering with audio electronics and programming.